In late 2006 and early 2007 the Mackinac Center conducted a
nationwide survey of state education departments about the number of
conventional public school districts that contract with a food service
management company. As part of the National School Lunch Program, states keep
records on participating institutions that contract with an FSMC for food
services. For the purposes of our survey, charter schools, private and parochial schools and residential child care institutions were excluded from the tally.

The results can be seen below.

Graphic 1

Number of Conventional Public School Districts in the National School Lunch Program That Contract With Food Service Management Companies, by State

Source: State education departments, author’s calculations
* The California data reflect the number of districts that had official contracts with an FSMC to provide services in conventional public school districts. This figure, however, probably understates the role of FSMCs in California. Districts frequently turn to FSMCs through consulting agreements, rather than official contracts. Such agreements were excluded by the state of California when it responded to the survey, while essentially similar agreements were included by other states participating in the survey.

As can be seen from the total of the fourth column, the
nationwide average was just 13.2 percent, or less than half of the rate in
Michigan. Since the Center’s nationwide survey was completed, however, the total
number and percentage of school districts that contract for food service have
changed. The new data on these changes is discussed further in the detailed
"2007 Survey Results" section, below.

Food service privatization is one area of school
competitive contracting where Michigan is a national leader, though Rhode Island
(86.1 percent), New Jersey (64.4 percent) and Pennsylvania (36.7 percent) still
outpace the Great Lake State. The Northeast corridor appears to dominate
America’s food service contracting landscape. Indeed, almost 75 percent of all
contracts between conventional public school districts and FSMCs are located in
just 10 states, seven of which are located in the Northeast.